Jason Smith wrote:Seahawks are completely loaded; Niners will fall back to the packWhat else does Seattle need? Now they're loaded everywhere. Percy Harvin and Cliff Avril were their two missing pieces. These are marquee players in their primes who will help them be even more explosive than they were a season ago.

Anquan Boldin and Steven Jackson are two veterans on the decline who have a little bit left in the tank, but they're not the difference-makers Harvin and Avril are. Especially Jackson -- is he going to be an upgrade over Michael Turner or is he going to be about the same? He's not a red-zone threat, and his production has been slowly decreasing the past three seasons. And Matt Ryan could see a Matthew Stafford-like bounce back to Earth this season after a big breakthrough in 2012.

For San Francisco, there's a bigger worry than its free agency moves. Mentally, it's a lot to get to the NFC Championship Game and lose, then get to the Super Bowl and lose the next season. I can't see San Francisco maintaining that mental edge that's needed over the course of the offseason, 16 more games and the playoffs to make it out of the NFC again. The Niners will keep playing the Super Bowl in their heads over and over, thinking, "When we get back this year, we're going to win it." Teams who do that look at their record in December and see 7-7.

San Francisco takes a step back this season, Atlanta treads water or falls off a little bit, and Seattle rises to make it to MetLife Stadium in February.

I think we're in their heads. Not a chance will they beat us at home and I give us a decent chance of us beating them @SF. I am as concerned about the Rams as I am the Niners. We know SF is very concerned about both us and the Rams. St. Louis is in the best position to upset us, IMO. They are loading up, already have a hell-a-shish D-line and 2 of the first 22 picks in this draft. More importantly, nobody is talking about them. Seattle and SF are getting all of the press and I am sure that sits quite well with Jeff Fischer...as it pisses off his team. They make me nervous.

Yeah, the Rams are gonna be tough this year. The way I see it, the Niners are going to be tough, but declining over the next few years, the Seahawks are going to be in their prime and the Rams are a year behind us. Which means they'll be in the hunt for the division this season and it will be a three way race. 2014, I think the Niners are after a Wildcard spot and the division is between us and the Rams.

Richard Sherman doesn't just wanna get in your head, he wants to build a vacation home there.

SeAhAwKeR4life wrote:I agree with them; god the off season is killing me this year!!!

Jason Smith wrote:Seahawks are completely loaded; Niners will fall back to the packWhat else does Seattle need? Now they're loaded everywhere. Percy Harvin and Cliff Avril were their two missing pieces. These are marquee players in their primes who will help them be even more explosive than they were a season ago.

Anquan Boldin and Steven Jackson are two veterans on the decline who have a little bit left in the tank, but they're not the difference-makers Harvin and Avril are. Especially Jackson -- is he going to be an upgrade over Michael Turner or is he going to be about the same? He's not a red-zone threat, and his production has been slowly decreasing the past three seasons. And Matt Ryan could see a Matthew Stafford-like bounce back to Earth this season after a big breakthrough in 2012.

For San Francisco, there's a bigger worry than its free agency moves. Mentally, it's a lot to get to the NFC Championship Game and lose, then get to the Super Bowl and lose the next season. I can't see San Francisco maintaining that mental edge that's needed over the course of the offseason, 16 more games and the playoffs to make it out of the NFC again. The Niners will keep playing the Super Bowl in their heads over and over, thinking, "When we get back this year, we're going to win it." Teams who do that look at their record in December and see 7-7.

San Francisco takes a step back this season, Atlanta treads water or falls off a little bit, and Seattle rises to make it to MetLife Stadium in February.

Clayton and Sando have both made points about this, SF's defense doesn't rotate, I mean that can't help but age players quicker then they normally would. Also I don't know how healthy Justin Smith will be and Aldon (who just had surgery btw) hasn't proven he can play without him. I think the 9ers have a declining defense, however their offense will still be great don't get me wrong

Ya'll know we are in the Super Bowl this next year, and not because of how fantastic of a team we have...It's the only Super Bowl in the cold since Detroit. Apparently it's in the Football Gods Rule book.

For that reason alone, put all your life savings on a Vegas bet.

Seriously though, I do agree that the Rams are a team that needs to be paid attention to. Clearly nobody in the media is willing to do it. Hopefully the Seahawks aren't spending all of their time reading their press and actually focusing on their opponents. Well, we know one person for sure is...

Wilson:"Yes honey, I know it's only March but don't you see I have the Rams defense to contend with? I'll come to bed after I finish breaking down their entire roster and known tendencies beginning with their training camp footage from last year."

I do think their identity on offense takes a hit with that powerhouse Steven Jackson now gone. He WAS their offense for how many years? I don't think the absence of Jackson and the addition of whomever else they add in 2013 will suddenly catapult them into that dangerous of a team. I just don't. Not quite yet at least. 9-7 would be a mild surprise out of them in 2013.

I still think the 49ers are the favorites until we can beat them in their house. I don't even worry about at home. But if you want to show the entire planet that you are the CLEAR NFC favorite, you beat them in their house. No excuses.

Sweep those bitches, period.

There are three certainties in life. Death, taxes and the perpetual shuffling of the Seattle Seahawks offensive line.

I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. When you read your own press clippings,that's when your off your guard. No hype, then tons of hype. "Super bowlfavorites" is a road sign on the road to nowhere.

That's on the one hand.

On the other hand, fans of a team that gets little national press can't help butbuy into the hype. I know I'm sure enjoying it. Writers who treated us like somethingon the sole of their shoe are now jumping out in front of the Seahawk parade.I like it..........but it scares me.

If Pete has any strengths, they start with an outstanding ability to keep a given player's focus on doing his job and ignoring outside influences. He'll come up with ways to keep things in perspective.

davidonmi wrote:Clayton and Sando have both made points about this, SF's defense doesn't rotate, I mean that can't help but age players quicker then they normally would. Also I don't know how healthy Justin Smith will be and Aldon (who just had surgery btw) hasn't proven he can play without him. I think the 9ers have a declining defense, however their offense will still be great don't get me wrong

Frank Gore, born May 14 1983. There's their offensive juggernaut and Kaepernick without him will be Aldon Smith without Justin Smith 2.0.

If you haven't done the math. Gore will be 30 years old in less than 2 months and if you follow the careers of RB's and the age barrier that 30 years old represents, it is just as likely we will see a significant drop off from Gore soon as well and with it Kaepernick will be exposed.

If I were a Niner fan I would very very worried. They can pull the wool over their eye's all they want but way to many things are adding up.

Loss of multiple key players in FA? Check.

Existing elite players (the best two on the team) hitting massive age barriers? Check.

Harbaugh over playing his veterans and not giving younger players playing time? Check.

A very powerful division rival who looked like the better team at the end of last season making key moves in FA to only get better? Check

Right now there are two facts (paper facts but facts none the less) The Niners are weaker then they were at the end of last season due to age and loss of key personnel and the Seahawks are stronger than they were at the end of last season for exactly the opposite reasons.

If your an intelligent Niners fan ( I know oxymoron) you are praying that Justin Smith and Frank Gore can last another season. That Balke finds suitable replacements in the draft. That Boldin is what he was in the playoffs and not what he was all season long. That someone steps up and fills the critical need at nose tackle were they lost their starter and backup. That you can find a suitable replacement TE and Safety. That Manningham will be able to play next season. More than probably anything else, they are hoping that the Seahawks moves in FA somehow don't work out but they know as well as we do that the moves we made in FA will only make us better.

The problem is, they need all of that to happen, not just one or two things and the odds of that are near zero. I can't wait to see things unravel for Harbaugh and company. It will be sweet to see him and the Niners organization melt back to mediocrity or worse.

What, you're pushing 10K posts and expect me never to miss one?!? You know love and hate, they aren't opposites kidhawk, they are brethren. When I become indifferent, then you widdwe feewings can be hurt!

You know, I do see your point here and for a minute it is tempting to agree, but I don't and here's why; I really think these guys are young, hungry, and we have the coach who can keep them focused. If we are to become a "Dynasty" like I know we all would dealy love to see, this is the kind of press our guys are gonna have to learn to hear and push themselves to exceed the hype.

Plus, after having been a fan since I was a small child at the very start, it just feels too damn good to finally get some respect and not have to already have sewed up a playoff spot to get it. This is the freakin' offseason, not even that close to the draft and they're blowing out horn; what Bizarro world is this anyway?!?

Pittsburgh*IndianapolisNYGPittsburgh New OrleansSaintsPackersGiantsRavens

Of those; One (Indianapolis) would have been considered easy preseason favorites to win the Super Bowl. Pre seaon favorites mean nothing. We have to win tough road games next year, let's do that, stay healthy, and let the chips fall where they may.

Now a guppy driver. Loving the Hawks with my bro Nanomoz for over 30 years

They got their asses behind that is what happened, and they had better get used to it this year.

Yes they had to quit running in that game in the first quarter. But one game does not change the fact that he has blistered us many times. As I recall once for over 200 yards.

Everyone seems to think that one game is going to change everything involving our 2 teams and I disagree. I can't think of any team that wants to beat us more now.

Alex Smith would have made the game much closer and got Gore into it. The problem was the QB change that led to an offensive change. Smith handed off to Gore so quick off the snap that he was at full speed in the second level in the blink of an eye, this is the type of ground game we are weak to. You take away that advantage and even though you still have a good OL our defense can contain a RB much better.

Gore is miscast with Kap in the shotgun and Gore behind him and even though they don't run a full time pistol formation, it does take snaps away from Gore's bread and butter, and he's at that point in his career where he's getting too old to learn new tricks. Harbaugh has a lot of work to do turning Gore back into Gore, and getting Kaepernick ready to improve on his reads and decision making.

As for the chip on our shoulder...this is where PC wanted us drafting the personalities that he did. For better or worse, we're not the underdog anymore, by design.

Smelly McUgly wrote:I think, rather than turning Gore back into Gore, Harbaugh will just start to favor Kendall Hunter and LaMichael James in the running game.

Fair enough. I assume he will feature Frank Gore next year, but that may not be the case.

That's a fair assumption, and I likely should have explained myself better instead of being shorter than I intended.

What I have seen of Hunter suggests that he is Gore-lite with more of a burst. Part of the reason for what I think will happen is that Hunter will get more carries to keep Gore fresh for the playoffs, and the other part is that LMJ can act as a poor-man's Percy Harvin that gives SF a bit more in the option game. They can do all sorts of crazy stuff back there considering LMJ's versatility.

Colin Kaepernick is a great person, something that the NFL is sorely lacking.

A blonde woman certainly can have football knowledge. Was raised on the hawks and could be found on the couch every sunday cursing with dad. Football isn't rocket science.

A blonde that gathers football knowledge just has to discard an equal amount of knowledge that normally would be reserved for another useful skill in her mind. In my case, any hope of choosing a man worth anyone's time was deleted when I decided I love football.

This can be proven with empirical evidence since I decided to marry (and divorce) a Jets fan.

Canhawks wrote:Last years team for the most part was very healthy,the one factor that really scares me is injuries,it scares the hell out of me!Other than that we will be battling it out for the long haul.

Aggressive style of play promotes health. Seems weird but goes to the thinking of when you are trying to not get hurt is usually when it happens. Look at the Holmgren era for a good example. Does this mean we won't have injuries? Of course not but I do feel there is a tie between the style of play and the health factor.

The other side of this is depth of which we are pretty stacked. Example being the Niners when Justin Smith went down and they had no one ready to step in and in large part because they don't give their backups many reps. We play so many different position groups and players throughout that we can absorb injury better than most teams. Hopefully we don't have to.

Here's the thing that worries me: the Hawks have typically had a road game stigma. The Niners haven't, at least under Harbaugh.

I know we addressed this to a certain extent last year, but we also lost to teams like Detroit and Miami on the road when we had comfortable leads.

STL's DL has owned our OL that last 2 times we met, and we've really done nothing as of yet to upgrade our OL. Carpenter is still a question mark, Sweezy and Moffit both need to improve (which I think will happen), and popular theory suggests we need more coninuity on the line, although injuries didn't hurt us too badly last year. I think the Rams lost a big part of their running game, and they are going to have to rely on mostly rookie WRs to improve their passing game, which isn't always feasible the 1st year out. The biggest addition they had was Long in FA....they've needed to address their OL for a while. Moving Saffold over to RT is also an upgrade at that spot. These games will be a dog fight.

The Niners still have a better front 7 than we do I think, although that gap is closing as our youth gets more experience. Our back end is miles ahead of theirs right now, and they're looking to the draft (see above comment on rookies) and aging veterans to shore up that back end. It looks like our offense will start to have some mismatches to their defense, as we didn't have any trouble running on them last year. Our weapons should gash their secondary, and Wilson will be better in both games, not just the home game. I think Kaepernick will get better; I watched a lot of Wolfpack football and I liked that pick. For as good as our defenses are, I think these games might end up being higher scoring than most would think.

I honestly see us winning the division, but here's the rub: as good as the division is getting, EVERY game will count if we want homefield advantage. We have the best team I've ever seen in Hawks uniforms going into a season, but expectations and results will need to be sky high.....it will take at least 12 games to win the division this year. That doesn't lend to us throwing games away on the road, which historically we've done.

Pittsburgh*IndianapolisNYGPittsburgh New OrleansSaintsPackersGiantsRavens

Um, two of those need an asterisk, not just one. Coincidentally, the other one that needs it is also Pittsburgh.

49ers webzone: Win or lose, i hope you injure Sherman. Like a serious career ending injury. I don't want him to get paid.49ers webzone: noise should not be the overwhelming reason a team is favored. they need to spray noise-damping foam onto the ceiling of that place.

Pittsburgh*IndianapolisNYGPittsburgh New OrleansSaintsPackersGiantsRavens

Um, two of those need an asterisk, not just one. Coincidentally, the other one that needs it is also Pittsburgh.

Yes, I agree. It wasn't as blatant, but the refs were pretty clearly giving more leeway to the Stealers in their officiating in that game. Had the zebras done a better job, I suspect the Stealers would have at least one, likely two less rings. We should have won and so should the Cardinals have.